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A large (3.5 - 4.0 cm wingspan) grey-brown Abagrotis. Head and body grey-brown, unmarked. Forewings essentially unmarked except for the prominent narrow rectangular reniform partially filled with black scales (nearly obsolete in some specimens) and the paler terminal area. Hindwings unmarked sooty brown, slightly darker than the forewings. Antennae filiform. Sexes similar. Very similar to A. erratica, which is browner, has the post-median line indicated by a series of fine dots, and has biserrate, bifasciculate male antennae. Keys to the species of Abagrotis and illustrations of adults and genitalia of both sexes are presented in Lafontaine, 1998.

There is a single annual brood in Alberta, with the adults flying in fall. The larvae are pale grey with elongated subdorsal spots on all abdominal segments. Larvae prefer the flowers of fruit trees in preference to the leaves, and are sometimes serious pests in orchards further west. Adults are attracted to both lights and sugar baits.

Mainly southwestern North America, but extending eastward across the plains and with a large disjunct population in dune habitats in the southern Great Lakes area. It extends into western Canada only in the southern interior of British Columbia and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. In Alberta it occurs in the wooded valleys of the grasslands region, north to the Red Deer River.